BREAKING: War Plan Iran: China Snubs Washington's Best-Laid Plans to Destabilize Iran's Oil Industry

By Finian Cunningham, Global Research

Why should China shoot itself in the foot to accommodate hostile American chauvinists?

Chinese leaders dealt a blow to US plans to strangulate Iranian oil exports just hours before Washington's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner touched down in Beijing.

It could hardly be a more pointed snub to Washington's designs to press-gang a global lynch mob into laying into the Iranian economy.

Top of the agenda for Geithner's visit beginning Tuesday is to push China's leaders into cutting off crude oil imports from Iran - thus hoping to cripple the Iranian economy.

Already the US government seems to have succeeded in bouncing the European Union and other Asian importers of Iranian oil - Japan and South Korea - into following Washington's latest sanctions against Iran's Central Bank, thereby hitting the state-controlled oil industry.

For the record, the US orchestration of sanctions is based on the tiresome and spurious allegations that "Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon" - which in reality reads "Washington needs a pretext to mount regime change in Tehran to one that is subservient to its foreign policy and future energy requirements".

But the Chinese are having none of it. China's astute leaders know full well that the real US agenda has nothing to do with alleged nuclear weapons.

China's senior foreign diplomat Chen Xiaodong told China Daily: "We are against imposing any unilateral economic or oil sanctions on Iran" - precisely what Geithner is demanding his hosts in Beijing to do.

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Occupying Corporate Hype: The Strategic Satire of The Yes Men

For over a decade, The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno) have been engaged in an extended campaign of covert activism that is part performance, part satire and part fifth-column insurgency. In many cases, they do this through a sort of satire-by-agreement, posing as corporate executives and expressing ideas that are only slight exaggerations of their targets’ stated positions. In the process, they’ve managed to sell some truly ridiculous ideas to their audiences of industry insiders, including an algorithm for assessing when it’s desirable to trade human life for corporate gain (The Golden Skeleton program) and the SurvivaBall, a cumbersome portable cocoon designed to help the super-rich weather a major environmental collapse. In this interview, we spoke with Mike Bonnano of The Yes Men about their history, their thoughts on art and activism, and their current and future plans.

By Jeff Edwards

Jeff Edwards - I’ve seen you described as culture jammers, performance artists and even gonzo journalists. How do you describe yourselves and what you do?

Mike Bonanno - We’re primarily activists, but we’re also storytellers. We try to tell stories as creatively as we can, and we provide journalists with excuses to write about issues that they care about.

J.E. - You’ve been at this since 1999. How did you get started? Did you fall into being The Yes Men, or did you have a plan from the beginning?

M.B. - We fell into it; it happened to us. We put up a fake website for the World Trade Organization, and it was supposed to be a satire. To our great surprise, people thought we really were the WTO, and we got invitations to attend conferences as the WTO, so we started doing it.

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Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism

Col. Larry Wilkerson speaks at Sam Adams Awards ceremony honoring Jesselyn Radack and Thomas Drake.

Whistle Blower Threatened with 35 Years in Prison, Warns of Developing Tyranny

Thomas Drake blew the whistle on a massive domestic information gathering scheme and was called "an enemy of the state" (speech at Sam Adams Awards).

Occupy the Income Tax

Seven answers, all true and easily documented, if answered, are sufficient to end income tax, expose tyranny and peacefully change the course of history.

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Hallelujah - A dedication to the global uprising

Gingrich: Occupy Protesters Are Blocking My Free Speech

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Monday complained that Occupy Wall Street protesters were "blocking" his right to free speech.

The former House Speaker told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he had canceled an event at his campaign headquarters, where protesters were waiting outside the front and back entrances.

"Some of the Occupy Wall Street people, frankly, have a touch of anarchism in them," Gingrich declared. "I think, ultimately, the society’s going to have to say there are limits to those kind of folks blocking people from having their right to free speech. But we decided it wasn't worth risking some kind of big confrontation and so we, frankly, decided to skip past that particular event."

"I do think we can't be held hostage by those kind of people," he added.

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Open Letter to The 'Occupy' Movement: The Decolonization Proposal

Occupy Mental Health! Countering the "Business Model" of psychology

The medical model draws a significant amount of critique in clinical psychology these days, especially from existential and humanistic psychologists, and for good reason. The medical model is deeply flawed in its basic assumptions, including its construction of mental illness and conceptualization of what it means to be human. Although ongoing critique of the medical model is needed, it is increasingly evident that another disconcerting model is also in need of our attention and critique: the business model.

The business model is nothing new in mental health. We were first introduced to it when managed care invaded mental health. Despite our complaining about the negative impacts of managed care, it is important for clinicians to recognize that it came about largely because of the abuses of the system perpetrated by many practitioners. With managed care, clinicians encountered lower pay and greater challenges in reimbursement, leading to the need for many therapists to give more attention to the business side of practice in order to survive.

Although often not acknowledged, managed care brought some needed reform. Individuals and groups that were exploiting the system were more closely regulated and many mental health organizations began emphasizing financial responsibility. Yet, this is not the business model I am addressing this article. In recent times, we have seen the introduction of for-profit companies, agencies, and models (including in nonprofit companies) into various levels of psychological training and practice. These for-profit models have infiltrated mental health hospitals, community mental health centers, prisons, education and training programs, and even hospice programs. The for-profits often have a different motivation than the traditional mental health worker: profit. Although it is important to emphasize that not all for-profits are problematic, increasingly it seems there are few exceptions.

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The selling of “Anarchy”

A female police officer chases a masked jewelry thief through a sun-drenched cityscape. Sprinting, he pulls off his mask, sheds his jacket and dumps his bag of loot; she throws off her police hat, undoes her utility belt and drops her weapons to the ground. She’s no longer a cop; he’s no longer a criminal. They stare at each other with unbridled desire. The words “Nothing will ever be the same again” appear on the screen, followed by the warning “Anarchy is coming.”

Sounds pretty radical, right? Anarchy promises a world where the roles of cop and criminal break down and new ways of relating to each other are possible — nothing will ever be the same again – and it’s hot. But the clip actually aims for a different type of anarchy altogether: It teases Anarchy, a new fragrance to be aimed at women (a first for the brand) from the noxious fume producers Axe.

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Chomsky Interview on Occupy Protests with Edward Radzivilovskiy

LA Council Tentatively OKs Porn Condom Ordinance

“This long struggle to move us to a place of making Los Angeles a safe place to make adult films has taken a huge leap forward today,” said foundation President Michael Weinstein, referring to advocacy work and legal attempts to create a mandate for condoms in porn and to enforce it.

The Free Speech Coalition, the porn industry’s trade association, issued a statement criticizing the vote and the incursion of government into sex films.

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'Occupy,' 'Occupy LA' Trademark Applications Filed by SoCal Entrepreneurs

Here on the Internet news circuit, the Occupy boom has more or less settled. Don't bite our heads off -- we're not saying the movement itself is over, by any means -- but it's nearing the end of its shelf life as a meme. (The young American hive mind has a severe case of ADD, and a story can only stay hot for a few months before everyone goes looking for the next trending topic to beat the life out of. Just look at Charlie Sheen.)

Unlike the national attention span, though, trademark law is still Paul Revering it through the 21st century. So these SoCal-based applications to trademark phrases like "Occupy," "Occupy LA" and "Occupy Los Angeles" (discovered by trademark lawyer Sue Basko and posted to the official OLA blog), are still pending in court:

First, there's Jeffrey Pierce Henderson, the kook who's claiming to own a political organization known as "Occupy Los Angeles."

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#The Occupy Interviews: SCOTT CRAMER, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER

#TheOccupyInterviews is a series of interviews with people active within and on the periphery of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Scott Cramer is a documentary film maker living in New York City. He has been working on a documentary about Occupy Wall Street since it began earlier this year.

Interviewed by Bill Dunleavy, Superchief Cofounder

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B. Dolan - "FILM THE POLICE" ft. Toki Wright, Jasiri X, Buddy Peace, Sage Francis

Homeland Security monitors journalists

Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what.

Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms.

Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”

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Obama's New Military Strategy: Targeting Nations which Challenge US Hegemony

Stephen Lendman writes for Global Research:

In fact, at issue is regime change, controlling Iranian oil and gas, redrawing the Middle East, and pursuing regional hegemony to China and Russia's borders. Bush addressed "wars of the 21st century."

They continue under Obama. Tactics include creating an arc of instability, chaos and violence throughout the region to justify US intervention.

Addressing the 18th Direct Democracy conference in Feldkirch, Austria, Law Professor Francis Boyle warned against attacking Iran, especially with nuclear weapons.

America already committed "acts of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, (and Libya) and has authorized armed, equipped, and supplied Israel (with destructive weapons and munitions) to commit outright genocide against Lebanon and Palestine."

Preemptive war is illegal. So is preventive war. Bush Doctrine policies featured them. They've "yet to be officially repealed by Obama...."

Nazi lawyers claimed these prerogatives at Nuremberg. They were rejected. Article 2 of the UN Charter requires settling international disputes peacefully, saying:

"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

Only legitimate self-defense is permitted. America's wars don't qualify. According to Boyle, they constitute "international criminal activity (for) planning, prepar(ing), solicit(ing), and conspiracy to commit Nuremberg crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide."

In addition, "the design, research, testing, production, manufacture, fabrication, transportation, deployment, installation, storing, stockpil(ing), sale, and purchase and the threat to use nuclear weapons are criminal under well-recognized principles of international law."

Boyle stressed the urgent actions, saying:

Otherwise, "Obama and his people could very well set off a Third World War over Iran that has been already threatened publicly by Bush Jr."

He also accused NATO states "go(ing) along with US policies" of complicity with US crimes.

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Scotland, London clash over independence vote

(Reuters) - Scotland's devolved government said Tuesday it wanted to hold a referendum in late 2014 on breaking away from the rest of Britain, setting up a clash with London which wants the vote held as soon as possible to dispel uncertainty.

The Scottish and British governments began playing a cat-and-mouse game over the future of the 300-year-old union between Scotland and England, with London saying the Scottish parliament had no legal authority to call a referendum on independence.

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'Saudi Arabia orders hit on Iraqi VP'

The Saudi regime is reportedly planning to assassinate fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi over fears that he might disclose Saudi Arabia's role in the bloody events in Iraq.

According to reports coming from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, where Hashemi has taken refuge, head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz is tasked with killing Hashemi to prevent the disclosure of his cooperation with Riyadh in assassinating Prime Minister Norri al-Maliki.

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin AbdulAziz has reportedly ordered Hashemi's killing after obtaining permission from King Abdullah.

Saudi authorities fear that Hashemi will reveal ties between the Riyadh regime, Baath party elements and Iraqi terrorist groups if he is arrested and put on trial in Baghdad.

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Group Seeks Release of U.S. Torture Tapes

By Adam Klasfeld, Courthouse News Service

The Center for Constitutional Rights wants the Pentagon, CIA and Justice Department to disclose the interrogation tapes of accused Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed al Qahtani, the only Guantanamo detainee that officials admit was tortured.
In a telephone conference Monday, attorneys from the rights group said they have seen the classified videos, but have been gagged from describing them.
"I can say that I found them very disturbing, sickening even," said Sandra Babcock, adding that the videos "have the power to change the debate" on Guantanamo and indefinite detention.
Captured in the Battle of Tora Bora, the U.S. government accused al-Qahtani of plotting to be the "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
A Pentagon official announced in 2008 that charges would be dropped against him "without prejudice" and without explanation, the BBC reported.
A military prosecutor brought charges months later to a convening authority, which chose not reinstate them, according to Center for Constitutional Rights spokeswoman Jen Nessel.
One year into his interrogations, Qahtani became "already mentally and physically broken," the rights group says in its new federal complaint.
The FBI observed that Qahtani was "talking to nonexistent people, reporting hearing voices [and] crouching in a corner of the cell covered with a sheet for hours on end," according to the complaint.
While Qahtani was in this mental state, military interrogators introduced a "First Special Interrogation Plan," overruling FBI concerns about "efficacy, coercion and possible illegality," according to a New York Times report cited in the complaint.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized the protocols, which are described in the complaint.
"From 2002 to 2003, while he was detained at Guantanamo, Mr. al Qahtani was subjected to systematic twenty-hour interrogations, prolonged sleep deprivation, forced nudity, sexual and religious humiliation, and other interrogation tactics that were both uniquely harsh and approved at the highest levels, and which caused Mr. al Qahtani severe physical and psychological trauma," the complaint states.

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The Billionaires' Tea Party (Proof Tea Party Is Nothing But Astro Turf)

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other

By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Turn On Each OtherFinally, after trillions in fraudulent activity, trillions in bailouts, trillions in printed money, billions in political bribing and billions in bonuses, the criminal cartel members on Wall Street are beginning to get what they deserve. As the Eurozone is coming apart at the seams and as the US economy grinds to a halt, the financial elite are starting to turn on each other. The lawsuits are piling up fast. Here’s an extensive roundup:

As I reported last week:

Collapse Roundup #5: Goliath On The Ropes, Big Banks Getting Hit Hard, It’s A “Bloodbath” As Wall Street’s Crimes Blow Up In Their Face

Time to put your Big Bank shorts on! Get ready for a run… The chickens are coming home to roost… The Global Banking Cartel’s crimes are being exposed left & right… Prepare for Shock & Awe…

Well, well… here’s your Shock & Awe:

First up, this shockingly huge $196 billion lawsuit just filed against 17 major banks on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bank of America is severely exposed in this lawsuit. As the parent company of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch they are on the hook for $57.4 billion. JP Morgan is next in the line of fire with $33 billion. And many death spiraling European banks are facing billions in losses as well.

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Israel's nuclear deterrent method exposed

Israel is keeping a dirty little secret . . . . .

Jim Stone, Freelance Journalist, Jan 8 2012

There is a reason why the U.S. government is waging war all over the world, even obviously against the good of the nation.

There is a reason why the U.S. government rapidly rolled over and did the banker bailout without question, in an amount which exceeded the value of every mortgage in the country by more than 3x, and every mortgage in default by over 15x; an amount which will destroy America once the ripple effect is finished.

Many of you are no doubt scratching your heads, wondering why every elected president turns back on his campaign promises the second the inaguration is complete. Believe me, the corruption of American elected officials is not that deep. You cannot elect several presidents in sequence, and have them all perfectly screw the country, ESPECIALLY the way Bush and Obama did; they had their reason, and it is called NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL.

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Outbreak Strikes CONUS: New H3N2v Variant Spreading Human to Human

By Shepard Ambellas, The Intel Hub

Note: The following topic is under heavy investigation, no conclusions have been made at this time. We do not yet know the full extent of the variation (mutation). No one has died from the strain at this time. It is also worth noting that this may be more scare tactics in order to further push and pad the pockets of the vaccine industry.

The CDC in Atlanta admits 12 people in 5 states have been infected, as the virus is now possibly transmitting on a human-to-human level.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the new H3N2v Virus has struck in 5 states in the CONUS (Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania and West Virginia), and contains a mutation variant of the 2009 H1N1 “Swine Flu” signaling the possibility of weaponization.

Backtracking to 2009, the H1N1 was deemed one of the most violent flu outbreaks in years — killing over 13,000 in the United States as people raced to the local Wal-Mart Super Center to get injected with the latest untested and fast-tracked toxic cocktail of death. (vaccine)

Although the flu was classified as novel, the fact remains that due to pandemic provisions implemented by former President George W. Bush and extended by the current Obama administration, in conjunction with the World Health Organization, the United States is technically under Pandemic Level 6 (silent martial law) until March of 2012 which gives the UN powers within the United States by way of treaty.

In essence. PDD51 has been primed.

According to reports, the new outbreak might have spread from pig to human.

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